Posts Tagged ‘dodotto tsubupyon’

Japan is known as one of the culinary capitals of the world, but at the opposite end of Michelin stars you get dagashi (da: low quality, gashi: candy). Dagashi has been around since Edo times as an alternative to fancy delicacies and ranging from the traditional (dried persimmon) to modern (fizzy cotton candy), and is marketed directly to children who have a few pennies to burn. The kiddier, the better.

Kracie, a company that produces food, as well as toiletry, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products, excels at creating what they call “Educational Candy,” the just-add-water type creations that tickle children and adults alike. The line boasts the YouTube-infamous candy sushi and many other creepy concoctions.

In March this year they renewed one such candy, Dodotto Tsubupyon, a jelly-ball candy that’s dispensed from an octopus-shaped device, complete with a fizzing dipping foam. The climax of the process, documented in the video above, was the creation of the jelly balls, which looked a bit like pink frog eggs, if such a thing existed.

Although all these odd treats may seem like a fad, Kracie’s freaky foods are not that recent of a development. Nerunerunerune, a sugary foam candy that makes you wonder if they developed it in the same lab as their shampoos, was first sold in 1986 and is considered a classic for Japanese kids today. To introduce you to the granddaddy of the frankenfood family and its popular descendant, we rustled up a batch and fed it to our colleagues.

Intern Eric grimaced after tasting the foam and uttered a single “Uh-uh” while shaking his head. “I didn’t enjoy the texture or the taste,’’ he said later. ”The purple concoction was foamy and supersweet, with some sort of unidentifiable fake flavor. When combined with the crystals in the other compartment, the sugar factor became way over the top. I’d say I have a sweet tooth, but this one was too much for me to handle.”

Another fellow intern, Natasha, took a nervous bite and immediately exclaimed, “It hurts! This is acid! I thought Japanese people were health-conscious. Why do they put this in their systems?”

Being the responsible person that I am, I too sampled the shaving cream-like foam. The verdict on the purple blob is that it’s a flavor you’ll never miss.

Finally, we cooked up the cute little “Popin’ Cookin’” sushi, a modern candy classic. When we did a taste test however, we learned that the only thing that’s cute and little about them is the way they look.

Editor Shaun took a bite of the maguro sushi and, after a long thoughtful pause, said, “Because the sushi looked so real, I was expecting a maguro flavor. When it tasted sweet instead, I felt betrayed.”

Eric, who tried the tamagoyaki (cooked egg) sushi, said, “On first bite, the taste wasn’t bad. It was a lot like any other artificial, gummy candy. The texture is what got to me. The ‘rice’ wasn’t bad, but the ‘fish’ on top was a gooey, bizarre mess. I also couldn’t tell if the accompanying ‘soy sauce’ made a difference.”

Editor Andrew weighed in on the ikura (fish roe) sushi: “The ikura were like little bubbles of jelly and the nori had the texture of a stick of bubble gum. Tasted like gummy bears, but less chewy. Would have been more interesting if it did actually taste of sushi!”

If you want a glimpse of the Japanese childhood you never had, you can head to any convenience store or supermarket to find candy from the Kracie family (or outside Japan, try White Rabbit Japan‘s snack section). The packages say no preservatives or artificial coloring added, but bigger questions came to mind when the purple foam started fizzing in our mouths . . . If it’s not artificial, what’s in it? Because I’ve never seen that stuff on a farm.

Japan plays its first match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, against Côte d’Ivoire this weekend. Although the tournament kicks off two days earlier in São Paulo, for many the Samurai Blue’s opening game ushers in the event, along with the activities that would normally raise eyebrows but get a pass every four years, such […]